To give new players a chance to experience all aspects of the game in a more forgiving environment, I would recommend playing as per the full rules set but with the following exceptions:

1) Make all the bonuses available to all players at any time, until each player fulfills the condition (other than needing to be the first to do so). That is, do not discard them from the game after the round that one player earns them. Note, that each player can still only earn each bonus once.

2) Put out all 3 copies of the 1X employees, no matter how many players there are (even in a 2 or 3 player game). Each player can still only own one of them.

3) For a first game, to speed things along, we also played with the investment cards but halved the amount of money that they added to the bank. That is $50, $100 or $150 after the bank first breaks.

All in all, it felt more like the full game experience but these options make the game more forgiving. New players to the game can discover how role cards are used and acquire them for themselves later. A major plus is that it also saves you having to explain a whole load of pitfalls, before the start.

Of course, the game really is best experienced as per the original rules, once everyone has played it at least once.

The introductory version suggested by the game states that you need not pay any salaries. In my opinion, that breaks the game because training workers becomes overpowered. Whoever trains the guru gains an incredible advantage. Maybe keeping the three gurus in play will mitigate this... Good idea!

1) Make all the bonuses available to all players until each player fulfills the condition (other than needing to be the first to do so). That is, do not discard them from the game after the round that at least one player earns them. Note, that each player can still only earn each bonus once.

So each player can get the bonus as soon as she can meet the milestone requirement and will never loose it?

1) Make all the bonuses available to all players until each player fulfills the condition (other than needing to be the first to do so). That is, do not discard them from the game after the round that at least one player earns them. Note, that each player can still only earn each bonus once.

So each player can get the bonus as soon as she can meet the milestone requirement and will never loose it?

Correct.

Also after playing this way, i didnt just jump into the full game for our second play. In the second game I used an intermediate variant where I allowed the inexperienced players to get any of my bonuses within one turn after me but I could not earn their bonus after they earnt it, as per the full rules.